So You Want To Buy A Tank

” This M-47 Patton is for sale for $275,000. ArmyJeeps.net has many pieces for sale, across the country.”

” I want a tank. I have no idea what I’d do with a tank, and I know full well I wouldn’t fit inside a tank (I’m terribly claustrophobic). But that doesn’t really matter. I’d just like to have one to look at.

And for folks like me, buying a tank is no more difficult than buying a bulldozer, so long as the gun on the tank has been permanently rendered inoperable. That’s the trick. A tank’s cannon is classified as a destructive device by the ATF, and is, therefore, subject to all of the restrictions and regulations of the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act.

There are two general classifications of hardware. Some tanks are military antiques. As weapons, they’re obsolete. The interest in these machines is almost entirely based upon their value as examples. Most, though not all, of these sorts of tanks are associated with museums.

Buying a more contemporary tank overseas often involves an element of restoration, as many of the available specimens were abandoned, or mothballed.

ExcaliburArmy.com is a dealer out of Prague. For an excellent perspective on the what it takes to buy a tank in Prague (but not the hassle of getting it over here) read Joe Sherman’s Automobile Magazine article “How to Buy a Tank.”

There are dealers here who specialize in decommissioned military hardware. If it is already in the United States, it is only a matter of money.”